“We have several issues to deal with,” board president Jay L. Leib said Friday. “We have a shortfall.”

Leib also said Summer did not have the authority to cancel “Don Giovanni.”

Summer said Friday he wants Leib to resign.

Leib declined to say what the deficit was but said the company lost a grant it was hoping to receive.

Summer said earlier this week that the Mattina R. Proctor Foundation, which has supported his work for years, could not finance the Mozart opera because the community had not demonstrated support.

“We need to have some fund-raising opportunities to pay off the shortfall,” he said.

Leib said the board has invited Summer its next meeting July 6 to talk about raising money. He said there will be a major fund-raiser between now and the end of September, and the company will pay off its debt.

Summer said he sees his job as raising money and wants each board member to find five wealthy potential donors, tell him who they are, and he will ask for money.

Leib said Summer did not have the authority to cancel “Don Giovanni.” He said the board would like to see it performed during 2010/2111 season and “hopefully in the first half of the year, not the second.”

He said the Metropolitan Opera in New York is having budget issues, so it’s not surprising that a small company like Commonwealth Opera is as well. He is hoping, as Summer is, that operas staged here can be taken to Providence, Pittsfield, Hartford and Worcester, where companies have closed or are on hiatus.

He reiterated his optimism for keeping the 33-year-old company alive.

Summer said he doubts that “Don Giovanni” can be staged anytime soon. The contracts have been canceled, and the opera would have to be recast and the previous cast paid, he said.

Summer wants the board to bring on new members - Leib said he has several in mind - and Summer said, “I want to help them succeed.” But he said he wants Leib to resign.

Summer, who is also the executive director of the Shakespeare Concerts, transformed the company from a community-based mostly non-professional company, into a professional one. His daughter, Eve Summer, serves as artistic director. Neither received a salary for their first year.